The Ceylon Ocean.
Diego Garcia Island.
This island, previously acquired by the Homo Sapiens Company from America, had been completely transformed, inside and out, by the External Security Division.
Moreover, using the surrounding shallow-sea reefs, they had constructed three small, hidden underwater bases and a secret submarine port.
The location was Ancillary Base No. 3, approximately 57 kilometers north of Diego Garcia Island.
All personnel within the base had been evacuated, leaving it completely empty.
Inside the main underground base on Diego Garcia Island.
Base Commander Lei Gong wore a grave and tense expression. "Dr. Levis, are you sure there won’t be any problems with that thing?"
Dr. Levis, who had arrived from Hongsawaddy via nuclear submarine, replied with a calm face, "Don’t worry. Everything is within my calculations. Three layers of composite lead plating, plus a special compressed-air absorption layer, are more than enough to withstand the intense Gamma Rays."
"Alright, then!" Lei Gong could only brace himself and carry out the mission.
Dr. Levis was perfectly composed. "There’s no one in that ancillary base anyway. Even if there’s an accident, the worst that can happen is we just abandon it."
"Doctor, all checks are complete."
Dr. Levis immediately ordered, "Then let’s begin the test!"
"Yes, sir."
"Countdown in 30 seconds..."
30... 20... 10... 0...
BEEP! The detonation command shot through the wires, instantly triggering the nuclear device 57 kilometers away.
Inside the special nuclear test chamber, a hydrogen bomb with a 100-ton yield detonated instantly. Because the entire chamber had been pumped into a near-vacuum, there was no powerful shockwave—only light radiation, neutron streams, and radioactive material.
The various detectors embedded within the test chamber’s defensive walls also received a massive amount of data.
Simultaneously, over 73% of the first-layer detectors were destroyed in an instant.
Dr. Levis watched the real-time data on the computer, a trace of excitement appearing on his face. "It’s a success! My hypothesis was correct! The Firefly configuration really works!"
On the computer, the radiation index showed that the amount of Gamma Rays released was extremely high, several hundred times greater than that of a standard hydrogen bomb.
This meant that the recent nuclear explosion had produced a large quantity of radioactive material—specifically, material capable of releasing Gamma Rays.
Dr. Levis quickly ordered, "Input the data into the reaction model and calculate how much cobalt-59 was converted into cobalt-60."
"Understood."
The data was fed into the prepared reaction model. After analysis by the supercomputer, a set of figures was quickly produced.
"The conversion rate is between 71.6% and 74.2%."
Dr. Levis clenched his fist. "It reached the expected value. It seems we’ve added another ace up our sleeve."
What they were studying was the notorious cobalt bomb.
After developing the Firefly configuration for the hydrogen bomb, Dr. Levis and his team were not content with the status quo and continued to delve deeper into other nuclear technologies.
During a simulated nuclear explosion, Levis had a flash of insight: what if he replaced the uranium casing of a three-phase bomb with a cobalt-59 casing?
He discovered that because the Firefly configuration had a special magnetic confinement mechanism that could delay the nuclear reaction’s detonation by about 0.6 seconds, the normally extremely low conversion rate of cobalt-59 could be boosted to around 70%.
The cobalt bomb is not a direct-kill nuclear weapon, but rather a super dirty bomb.
In the 1950s, a physicist first proposed the theory of the cobalt bomb. The major world powers at the time also researched it but all found it difficult to realize. The key difficulty lay in the conversion efficiency of cobalt-59 into cobalt-60.
However, the characteristics of the Firefly configuration developed by Levis were perfectly suited for a cobalt bomb.
This live test was conducted precisely to validate the cobalt bomb technology.
Judging from the data generated by the explosion, Levis’s hypothesis was clearly a success.
Based on the current conversion rate of around 70%, detonating a single cobalt bomb containing 800 tons of cobalt-59 in the stratosphere at an altitude of 50,000 meters would be enough to wipe out the entire world.
tons of cobalt-59 would produce 560 tons of cobalt-60. Since the Earth’s surface area is only about 510 million square kilometers, each square kilometer would be coated with an average of 1 gram of cobalt-60.
This substance’s radioactivity is terrifying. It has a half-life of 5.27 years, and during its decay process, it releases massive amounts of Gamma Rays.
And Gamma Rays are extremely penetrating. Humans on the surface would have basically no chance of survival, unless they were inside heavily-fortified nuclear bunkers.
Even if one could survive for 5.27 years in an underground base, it would take about 100 years for the surface radiation levels to fall back to a barely tolerable range for humans.
Moreover, a cobalt bomb doesn’t even need to be launched into enemy territory. Detonating it over one’s own territory would still blanket the entire globe.
This means that so-called interception systems would be completely useless.
While a single cobalt bomb could not be built to an 800-ton scale, an 8-ton one was achievable.
An 8-ton payload was just right for a solid-fuel launch vehicle to carry directly to the stratosphere, to an altitude of 50,000 meters.
From now on, the Homo Sapiens Company only needed to arm itself with 100 cobalt bombs to possess a global extinction-level deterrent.
Of course, 100 cobalt bombs alone were certainly not enough. After all, if this weapon were ever used, the Homo Sapiens Company itself would suffer catastrophic losses. Therefore, it could only serve as a strategic deterrent.
Conventional, low-fallout hydrogen bombs would remain the mainstay of the Homo Sapiens Company’s tactical deterrent.
Levis led a group of nuclear physicists and engineers in a meticulous analysis of the various data generated by the test explosion.
Although the cobalt bomb was a success, they did not get carried away.
Developing such a world-ending weapon naturally placed a certain amount of pressure and unease on everyone’s minds.
「Three days later.」
Levis and the others completed a comprehensive analysis and supercomputer-simulated review of the data from the test explosion.
On the holographic projection in the temporary workshop.
The various details of the experimental cobalt bomb’s detonation were reconstructed piece by piece.
Suddenly, the nuclear power engineer Du Hai’s eyes narrowed. He turned his head and ordered, "Xiaogao, replay it. Stop at the 3.7-second mark, then slow it down 100 times."
"OK."
The supercomputer simulation played again. At the 3.7-second mark, the speed was slowed by a factor of 100.
Dr. Levis asked curiously, "Did you find something?"
"An electric current!" A glint of excitement flashed in Du Hai’s eyes.
"Electric current?" Dr. Levis carefully examined the changes in the various data points. Soon, he saw the current Du Hai was talking about.
In the compressed-air absorption layer within the Gamma Ray barrier, a dense electric current began to appear after 3.7 seconds.
According to the calculations, this current was basically stable in the range of 2.63 to 2.77 kilowatts.
Levis reacted instantly. "This is energy generated by the Gamma Rays..."
After being converted by the compressed-air absorption layer, the Gamma Rays had somehow turned directly into an electric current.
Du Hai’s voice trembled slightly. "We installed a total of 200 grams of cobalt-59, of which 144 grams were converted into cobalt-60. Based on its half-life and the energy produced by its decay, it should be capable of generating a power output equivalent to 4 kilowatts."
Everyone present was a professional; they quickly calculated the electrical energy conversion efficiency to be 67%.
Du Hai already felt a flush of excitement. "The key is the voltage. The current produced by the conversion in the compressed-air absorption layer has a voltage of roughly 30,000 to 70,000 volts. Compared to the hundreds of millions of volts in natural lightning, it’s much easier to transform."
Although Levis specialized in nuclear weapons development, it didn’t mean he was ignorant about nuclear power. After reviewing this data, he was also incredibly excited:
"This is a momentous discovery."
Du Hai suggested, "Doctor, I propose we extract the cobalt-60 from the test chamber and design a new experiment."
"Agreed."